How to Disable Automatic App Updates on LG G5

The unique new LG G5 smartphone is now available in the United States and around the world, which means many new users are full of questions. Out of the box, the LG G5 is packed with apps from LG, carriers, Facebook, Amazon, and more, and they all need to be updated. Read on for instructions on how to manage automatic updating of apps.

LG’s smartphone has many options and settings, and it can be quite confusing at times. One thing that is always asked is apps that update automatically so here we will explain how to disable this on your new phone.

If you don’t want the LG G5 to update apps on its own, or if you don’t want to be bothered by tons of notifications to update apps daily, we have a few easy ways to stop it all. Below we will detail settings that are easy to find and change in the Google Play Store to fully control your G5. This can be useful for first-time Android smartphone owners or someone who has recently switched from an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.

Out of the box and by default the LG G5 will automatically update all apps; this is the easiest way to do things. At the same time, many want to check it out and know what’s going on with the apps and why they’re updating. This could be saving data and updating on WiFi only, or knowing what’s new or changed. Google’s Play Store even automatically adds an icon for new apps to the home screen and we can disable this obnoxious feature in this settings menu as well.

Whether or not the owners do this is up to them, and everyone has different wishes or preferences. Those who want full control will want to follow the steps below.

Instructions

We do not go into the phone settings and to do this we will have to use the Google Play Store. Go to the Store by tapping the icon on your home screen or finding it in the app tray.

After entering the Google Play Store, users can select the top left (3 lines) menu button next to the “Google Play” search bar and select settings as shown in the image below by scrolling to “Settings”. All options to change everything mentioned above are in this quick and easy access menu.

This is the general settings menu for the Google Play Store. One of the first options listed is “Auto-update apps” and you will want to tap that. From here, choose the one that best suits your situation. By default, it will be set to automatically update apps over Wi-Fi, which most users should leave on. Especially at first or if users install big games like Clash of Clans, Asphalt 8 or others, we don’t want the data to be updated as they use their data as it can use up a full 3-5GB data plan very quickly. Choose instead.

Choosing not to auto-update means owners will be constantly notified in the notification bar at the top that apps need to be updated, rather than just updating on their own. This can be inconvenient, but for many it is the method of choice. It provides control to see what’s updated, check changelogs to find out what’s new, and even stop updates.

Our recommendation would be to leave it set to update apps over WiFi to save data, so it will update automatically but not with your data plan. However, you are here to stop it, so choose the option to not update automatically. Then, as we mentioned above, here you can also uncheck the feature that automatically puts icons on the home screen when an app is downloaded. It’s a nice feature to have, but it messes things up really quickly if you download lots of apps. While you’re here, check out some great LG G5 cases outlined below.